Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Health Care Hoopla: A Primer from the AP
It looks to me like the main problems/areas of instability or unease would lie in:
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A Midtown Lunch Spot: Meal O'Bama
A chalkboard sign advertises the daily specials at Meal O'bama, the recently renamed food cart located on the corner of W39th Street and 7th Avenue.
Other fast-food chains, such as Obama Fried Chicken in Harlem and Brownsville, have gained media attention in recent weeks for changing their name to reference President Barack Obama.
This vendor stand seems not to be attracting controversy, though. It is supervised by Mr. Muhammad Rahman, famous for formerly being a chef at the Russian Tea Room, who owns and operates a small chain of food vendor carts called Kwik Mart throughout Midtown.
A day-in-the-life timeline of the workers and cooks who operate the Kwik Mart vendor chain, of which this cart is a part of, can be found on the NYC eatery blog, Midtown Lunch.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
AIDS Activists Flunk New York City Health Care Services
D. D-minus. F.
Those are the grades that HIV and AIDS advocates gave to New York City’s health care services.
To mark President Obama’s 50th day in office on Wednesday, March 11, AIDS and HIV prevention advocates from around the country issued a health care report card grading the nation’s progress in finding a cure for the epidemic. The “End AIDS Report Card,” compiled by the activist organization Campaign To End AIDS, failed the city across the board on the services such as housing and medication distribution.
“We need a national strategy to end AIDS,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “Twenty five years into the epidemic and we still don’t have a coherent national strategy on prevention or on treatment services and care. There has to be a strategy that involves every single state and every single locality doing its fair share.”
Go to NYC On Deadline to read the rest of the report, view video coverage and listen to interviews.
Those are the grades that HIV and AIDS advocates gave to New York City’s health care services.
To mark President Obama’s 50th day in office on Wednesday, March 11, AIDS and HIV prevention advocates from around the country issued a health care report card grading the nation’s progress in finding a cure for the epidemic. The “End AIDS Report Card,” compiled by the activist organization Campaign To End AIDS, failed the city across the board on the services such as housing and medication distribution.
“We need a national strategy to end AIDS,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “Twenty five years into the epidemic and we still don’t have a coherent national strategy on prevention or on treatment services and care. There has to be a strategy that involves every single state and every single locality doing its fair share.”
New Yorkers gather in Harlem in front of a statue of civil rights advocate, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., to protest what they call a failing city health care system.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Election Night Festivities Unite New Yorkers
(previously published here at www.nycitynewsservice.com)
In the evening hours before results of the 2008 Presidential Election were announced, people around the country gathered outside to wait for news and celebrate whatever outcome resulted. In New York, the main gatherings were in Harlem and Times Square, each area filling up with hundreds and even thousands of revelers.
In the evening hours before results of the 2008 Presidential Election were announced, people around the country gathered outside to wait for news and celebrate whatever outcome resulted. In New York, the main gatherings were in Harlem and Times Square, each area filling up with hundreds and even thousands of revelers.
In Manhattan’s Times Square, a festive atmosphere reigned as poll results trickled in on the outdoor jumbo screens. And amidst the neon lights, crowds erupted into cheers, whoops, car honks and all-around exuberance when Barack Obama was announced as the President-Elect of the United States of America.
In a city where strangers can go entire rides on the subway without acknowledging one another, people of all ages, backgrounds and histories blended together in a jubilant mass, posing for photos with each other and hugging and smiling at one another. The atmosphere was akin to a New Year’s party, but with a uniting theme: hope, change and a new future.
Click on the image above for a slideshow of the night's festivities.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Young Voters Speak: "I Want Change"
by Heather Chin, Igor Kossov, Lindsay Lazarski, Nicholas Martinez, Xiaomara Martinez-White, Rachel Senatore and Jeanmarie Evelly
(previously published at www.nycitynewsservice.com)
Young New Yorkers responded to Obama’s calls for hope and change by trooping to the polls to cast their first votes. We asked some of them to tell us their stories and what they expect from the new administration.
Cleo Crooks • Eighteen-year-old Cleo Crooks had a lot to do on Election Day. After G.E.D. and job-training classes, she had to pick up her niece from school, possibly take a shift as a cashier at the staffing agency where she works, and still find the time to vote.
(previously published at www.nycitynewsservice.com)
Young New Yorkers responded to Obama’s calls for hope and change by trooping to the polls to cast their first votes. We asked some of them to tell us their stories and what they expect from the new administration.
Cleo Crooks
Monday, August 18, 2008
NATIONAL: Congress Hears Testimony To Lift 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)
By: Heather J. Chin, The Bulletin
07/24/2008
A House Armed Services subcommittee heard testimony yesterday in support of ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans openly gay and lesbian individuals from serving in any branch military. This is the first congressional hearing to be convened on this issue since the policy was enacted 15 years ago.
The hearing is aimed as a preliminary effort before the proposed repeal is pushed forward to educate both Congress and the public about the negative effects of the current policy both on the ground and in the ability of the military as a whole to utilize the best and most skilled people for the job.
H.R. 1246, or the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, seeks to repeal the ban and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. It is co-sponsored by 134 members of Congress and supported by many retired military personnel, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman John Shalikashvili and over 50 retired generals and admirals.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., and 121 co-sponsors first introduced the Act in 2006, but didn't push it forward since a presidential veto was certain to result. House Democrats - plus five Republicans - plan a full presentation of the bill in the next Congress, when there is a new president.
In a July 8 interview with Military Times, Sen. Barack Obama has said he supports a repeal in that "at a time when we are pressed, we should have an attitude of 'all hands on deck'" and "everybody who is willing to lay down their lives on behalf of the United States, and can do so effectively ... should have the opportunity to do so."
Sen. John McCain opposes repeal, maintaining in a letter to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay rights group, that to do so would enable "the polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness" and "elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual service members above those of their units."
In the 15 years since "don't ask, don't tell" has been in effect, 12,342 service men and women have been discharged, according to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the General Accounting Office, including those with specialized skills and at least 58 Arabic linguists as of 2007. That amount peaked at 1,273 in 2001 and then fell to about half that after Sept. 11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on July 19 found that 75 percent of respondents said openly gay people should be allowed to serve. That number was 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.
Although no Pentagon representatives will speak, testimony will be heard from openly gay former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who was the first U.S. soldier wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a retired and openly lesbian servicemember who was on duty in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, and retired Army Maj. Gen. Vance Coleman, who is heterosexual.
The controversial law served as a compromise to then-President Bill Clinton's attempt to fulfill his 1992 campaign promise to allow openly homosexual men and women serve in the U.S. military. It was created by then-chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sam Nunn, D-Ga, and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
By: Heather J. Chin, The Bulletin
07/24/2008
A House Armed Services subcommittee heard testimony yesterday in support of ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans openly gay and lesbian individuals from serving in any branch military. This is the first congressional hearing to be convened on this issue since the policy was enacted 15 years ago.
The hearing is aimed as a preliminary effort before the proposed repeal is pushed forward to educate both Congress and the public about the negative effects of the current policy both on the ground and in the ability of the military as a whole to utilize the best and most skilled people for the job.
H.R. 1246, or the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, seeks to repeal the ban and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. It is co-sponsored by 134 members of Congress and supported by many retired military personnel, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman John Shalikashvili and over 50 retired generals and admirals.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., and 121 co-sponsors first introduced the Act in 2006, but didn't push it forward since a presidential veto was certain to result. House Democrats - plus five Republicans - plan a full presentation of the bill in the next Congress, when there is a new president.
In a July 8 interview with Military Times, Sen. Barack Obama has said he supports a repeal in that "at a time when we are pressed, we should have an attitude of 'all hands on deck'" and "everybody who is willing to lay down their lives on behalf of the United States, and can do so effectively ... should have the opportunity to do so."
Sen. John McCain opposes repeal, maintaining in a letter to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay rights group, that to do so would enable "the polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness" and "elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual service members above those of their units."
In the 15 years since "don't ask, don't tell" has been in effect, 12,342 service men and women have been discharged, according to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the General Accounting Office, including those with specialized skills and at least 58 Arabic linguists as of 2007. That amount peaked at 1,273 in 2001 and then fell to about half that after Sept. 11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on July 19 found that 75 percent of respondents said openly gay people should be allowed to serve. That number was 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.
Although no Pentagon representatives will speak, testimony will be heard from openly gay former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who was the first U.S. soldier wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a retired and openly lesbian servicemember who was on duty in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, and retired Army Maj. Gen. Vance Coleman, who is heterosexual.
The controversial law served as a compromise to then-President Bill Clinton's attempt to fulfill his 1992 campaign promise to allow openly homosexual men and women serve in the U.S. military. It was created by then-chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sam Nunn, D-Ga, and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
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